Needed: Temporary library spaceMatthew Bruun, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, November
11, 2004LEOMINSTER - As public library officials continue their
search for temporary quarters during a 16-month major
renovation and expansion of the public library on West
Street, the City Hall auditorium has been discussed as a
possible last resort.

"It is an idea that's been thrown out there but it has not
been discussed in any detail," library Director Susan
Shelton said yesterday.The city received six proposals from
property owners in the city last month after a call for
temporary quarters for the library collections. The library
will be vacated during the estimated $10.8 million
construction project, which is now slated to start in March.

The Crossroads Office Park on Mechanic Street, where the
city invested more than $1 million preparing a temporary
middle school before pulling the plug on the plans, is one
of the proposed sites. The Manor on the Hill nursing home on
North Main Street, formerly a Holiday Inn, is also on the
list.

Members of the library board of trustees have visited all
six sites and have begun ranking them, Ms. Shelton said.
Once the sites have been ranked, then the price
specifications provided by the property owners can be
reviewed, she said. The prices submitted Oct. 1 must be
honored until Dec. 1, she added.

Ms. Shelton said the start of the project has been delayed
as an independent engineering firm goes over the
construction documents, checking for compliance with
building codes.

Trustees hope to go out to bid on the project the second
week in December, Ms. Shelton said. The original plan was
for bids to be sought in early October, she said, but the
review of the plans pushed the timeline back.

Under the revised schedule, the library will need to be in
its temporary quarters by March 1, when construction on a
34,000-square-foot addition is expected to begin.

The existing library has about 21,000 square feet, but the
10,000-square-foot addition built in 1910 will be demolished
as part of the project.